My friends know that I love technology. I think that, properly used, it can solve many problems …which of course may have been caused by technology in the first place. The Archer has a Garmin 430W and I have used my Lowrance 2000C for four years. Recently I added another small handheld to the ranks just to have a backup and some situational awareness in vertical guidance. Three gps units…one Archer….a bit too much perhaps? I like certain things about each of the units but neither had them all.
While searching for a replacement for the handhelds I came across the iFly 700 by Adventure Pilot. The company appears relatively new to the arena and this unit may be their maiden voyage into that field. I wanted sectional and low enroute charts, flight planning, touch screen technology, vertical guidance, geo-referenced plates and airport diagrams as well as a screen at least as large as the Lowrance. The iFly 700 appeared to have those features or would soon be upgraded via software to offer them. The company reputation seems to have carefully been built with its clients over the past year or so. Backed with a full money back guarantee I took the plunge and purchased a unit with accessories and extended software updates. The unit shipped immediately and arrived quickly….in the middle of snow and ice grounding most GA pilots and planes. This did give me time to study the unit on the ground and become familiar with operations. That experience, coupled with multiple contacts to Shane, VP of Business Development for Adventure Pilot, allowed me to develop a comfortably paced training session for myself.
The unit arrived fully operational with the latest charts and upgrades. My unit shipped with a padded carrying case, ac and dc power supplies, update activation codes, external gps antenna, external battery and a suction mount. I do not wish to have the unit on my side window so I used the adapter that will soon be available on their website to fit the iFly to a RAM mount I already had in the Archer. If you are not in possession of one already a full RAM mount is available. I like to have options so that is one more. The unit powers up quickly and after a short time locked onto enough satellites to give a fix. The unit distinguishes between gps lock, weak signal, and no lock.
The size of the unit is good for viewing charts and with the zoom feature this is a plus. The display may be affected a bit by direct sunlight but for my purposes this was not an issue as the display remained useable. I did find that sunglasses made the screen more difficult to read so I flip mine up when needed. The touch screen allows the pilot to pan across charts much the same as folding and flipping but without the distraction. Selecting all possible choices for instruments in the larger size could clutter the screen a bit but you are given an option to select only what you will use. Just from anecdotal observation the data provided by the iFly 700 instrumentation match closely that of the Archer’s certified equipment. This provides not only enhanced situational awareness but another layer of safety in a potential emergency. The IFly 700 is not certified for instrument flight and under current FAA guidelines no portable unit can be but I would rather have it for the extra edge of safety it offers.
Power is supplied through either the AC DC supplies or the available battery. The unit does not have an internal battery and requires running cables in the cabin. Though I have not decided exactly how I will finally deal with this issue I have made some temporary decisions. The DC plug goes from the 12 V power plug to the battery which resides in the storage pocket. Though you do not have to use the battery in line, this configuration offers a power source should the aircraft loose electrical power. The power cable from the battery supplies power to the unit. By threading the cables carefully around the cabin they are relatively invisible. I do not use the external powered GPS antenna as the unit functions well without it. I placed the iFly 700 on the left yoke and angled it carefully so that no instruments were blocked from view yet still offered comfortable viewing. We do not want to spend a lot of time looking down so I balanced this carefully. It is not perfect but works. The unit comes on when I power up the battery which is charged when the Archer is running. This arrangement seems to offer no problems and the led’s on the battery keep me informed of its charge status. I am not completely comfortable with the current yoke arrangement and tried the unit on the right yoke, previously home for my Lowrance. That did not work well so I returned it to the left side.
The unit performed quite well in flight. Refresh rate is very good and the delay from start up to functional screen to map change etc. is quite minimal. Programming a flight plan, saving and loading one from memory is a breeze. The software allows one to easily modify an existing plan by adding or removing waypoints or altering the order. This interface is one of the easier ones I have used. There is a “direct to” feature that provides a listing of the closest airports. Just a side note; I, like others, always make suggestions for additional function but several issues factor into this equation. The vendor has produced a unit that attracts many because of its price point. Any additional research and development of software and ancillary hardware comes at a price and we would probably complain about that. The screen, though larger than many in the market at this price, has a finite amount of space and the addition of extra instrumentation could impact that. I think the approach from Adventure Pilot appears to be open to suggestions and that is a positive. Perhaps additional data might continue to be a user selected option. On the website there is a forum section which provides a venue for pilots to post a wish list. The site is monitored and Boyd provides answers and comments on a regular basis.
To conclude; I give the iFly 700 a thumbs up. The lack of an internal power supply is only a minor issue and I imagine a solution will be developed by some pilot ingenuity to deal with it. Updates for geo referenced approach plates have been pushed a bit farther into the future. I hope that this feature can be developed quickly and the option added soon. I am told that Boyd wants to “get this right the first time” and that is a reasonable strategy. Other vendors have not always lived up well to the promise of “future enhancements”. Adventure Pilot does not seem to fall into that category, however, and I imagine they will continue to earn that respect. The positives attributes are: reasonably priced hardware and updates, user can chose VFR only or VFR/IFR charts, size is perhaps as large as reasonable in the Archer, the company is very responsive to questions and comments, there is an iron-clad money back guarantee and peripheral equipment is being considered. In its price range I give it a positive rating. Check their website for more information. Tell them you read about the iFly 700 on PilotChatter.
Just an update on the iFly 700... Adventure Pilot continues to offer regular updates that expand the functionality of the unit. Recently geo-referenced approach plates and airport diagrams were introduced. There have been other updates also that make the unit very competitive and functional. The customer service is good. I had a battery to go bad and a new one was sent immediately with a return label for the defective one. The price has increased slightly since I initially purchased mine...fifty dollars more if I recall...but still competitive with anything else in its field. The size is great but glare can be an issue in bright sunlight...some say wearing a black shirt to curb the light will aid this. Just passing that on as I have never tried it.
BTW....a new addition that some of you might be interested in learning about....iFly now offers an upgrade that lets the unit become a ground based gps for auto. If you fly and then need to drive this would allow you to use a single unit for both. I think the upgrade is only sixty dollars with very inexpensive map updates. I do not have the upgrade so I can make no comments about its function.
